Settle
by DC41781
Summary: The town sheriff and Norman Bates compete for Norma's heart. AU where Norman and Norma aren't related.
1. Chapter 1

There's a fire burning beneath his skin that he can't quite extinguish. He wants to tear at her with his hands and scar her, watch crimson stain her pale, warm skin. He wants to be rid of her, but no matter how hard he wishes, she's still here right in front of him, holding tight to those tears in her eyes that refuse to be shed.

Norman watches her bottle her feelings and squashes the urge to rip them out of her by force. He can hear the breathless, pained sound she would make as he stood above her with her heart in his hands, all her secrets and emotions finally plain to him after all this time. "What are you doing?" He means to scream; it's nothing more than a stricken whisper. "Huh? What's going on?"

She moves across the room, graceful, calculated, ready to undo him further. "It's okay, Norman. It'll be okay."

"Screw you."

"Norman..."

"No. Why you can't just be honest with me? Damn it, Norma. Just tell me the truth."

"You want the truth? Fine. I don't love you anymore."

He scoffs, knows from the heat in his veins that he's angry, but that the pain is far more severe and unending. The anger will pass. The hole she'll leave behind will never heal. "Liar."

"I'm not lying."

There's a permenant scar on her knee from where she scrapped it on the tree outside his window during high school. She'd been a terrible climber, but there'd been no other way at the time. His mother hated her. Norman knows she still did, though she'd become less vocal about it over the years. His eyes focus on that scrape, that evidence of the time that has passed between them and tries to calm himself. "You don't love me."

Norma shakes her head, defiant like a child, her arms across her chest. It's something she did to make herself smaller and hide herself away.

He breathes out, somewhat surprised that it's even and calm. "Since when?"

She stays silent.

"Norma. Since when?"

She bursts like a balloon, all her air driving itself from her lungs in one breath. "I don't know, Norman. I don't know."

"Sure you do."

"I don't. I don't love you anymore. That's it. No reason, no exact point in time. I just don't love you anymore."

He stalks toward her, the four inches he has making him seem menacing and cruel. "Why are you lying to me? What are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything, goddamn it!"

"Who is he?"

"What?!"

"Who is he? Tell the truth." His eyes have gone black with his rage. His hands itch from how badly he wants to strangle the man who's stolen her from him.

Norma steels her gaze right on him. "The Sheriff."

It hurts and for awhile, Norman doesn't leave the house. He's terrified of running into the Sheriff - one of his father's oldest friends - in town, terrified that Norma might be right beside him, the tan line on her ring finger the only evidence that Norman had ever existed.

He goes numb with the silence and the loneliness. It's easier this way, without the threat of being broken anymore. Eventually, he'd have to restock the fridge, but for now, he could wallow and that was a comfort in and of itself. Except that Norma comes back. Uses her copy of his house key and just waltzes right in, her heels clicking on his floor in that famailar way that used to excite him and now just makes him ache.

"What the hell, Norma?"

There's a manila folder under her arm. She walks to the kitchen table where he's sitting and drops it in front of him. "Divorce papers." She moves toward the fridge and grabs two bottles of water, puts one beside the folder and nudges it in his direction. "Drink it. You look like shit. You want me to make you something?"

He looks at her, his eyes bloodshot, exhaustion clear beneath them, his heart seizing with her automatic kindness. "I'm, uh, out of food." He says.

"Then, I'll go out and pick something up. I'll go down to that diner you love, all right?"

"Norma."

"What?"

"Why are you doing this?"

She falls into the chair beside him and scoots herself impossibly close, her knee brushing his, two fingers tracing over his knuckles. "I don't like seeing you like this. Dylan called and told me you haven't been showing up for work or answering your phone. He's worried about you. I'm worried about you." She raises her hand to his temple and brushes her fingers through his hair. "You have to take care of yourself, Norman."

"I wanna kill him." At least he's being honest.

"I know you do, but you'll be okay, baby. I swear."

"Please don't leave."

"Norman..."

"Please, just tell me what I did. I'll do anything to make this better. Please don't leave."

"I have to."

"You don't!" He leans in close, his mouth a breath from hers. "You don't."

She uses both hands to frame his face and keep him here. "Norman. Oh, God, Norman."

"What?"

"You've been with me since you were seventeen. Don't you want to see what else is out there?"

"No. You're it. You know that." His lips touch hers softly. "Please, Norma."

"It's been ten years, baby. We've had a good run, haven't we?"

"It doesn't have to be over. Just tell him you changed your mind. You still love me. I know you do." His voice is practically breathless, stained with desire and quiet desperation. It's something like his seduction technique, only better.

"I love you. I'm scared of how much I love you. Please sign the papers."

"No."

"Norman."

"Tell me what I did. I want to fix it."

"You can't."

"I can. Tell me." His hands have slid to her hips and he's tugging on her, pulling her almost into his lap.

"I saw you with that girl on campus. Emma. I saw her fawning over you, touching you. I saw how much you liked it. I just thought I'd set you free."

"I don't want to be set free. I want you." He stands to his full height and lifts her until she's seated on the tabletop. "She's nothing to me. You have to believe that."

"I don't, Norman, and that's the problem."

"Norma, you're being paranoid. Don't you know that?"

"You're still so young, baby. You deserve a little bit of freedom."

"I chose you. I still choose you. Norma. Norma, we're okay. We're better than okay. Don't do this." The tears spring to his eyes. "Please. Please. Please don't do this."

"Sign the papers, Norman."

"Baby."

"Sign the papers."

Resignation slumps his shoulders as he turns away from her, headed for the kitchen drawer where he keeps odds and ends so he can get a pen. He doesn't even look at her before he signs his name and shoves the papers back at her.

"This is for the best, Norman. Trust me."

"Whatever. Get out of my house."

"Goodbye, Norman."


	2. Chapter 2

There are things he doesn't like about himself. His short temper being chief among them. It's gotten him in trouble more times than he'd care to count, but this...this could be the exception. The one time he felt justified in his wrath. The one time it felt earned. He drives to the Sheriff's station, his foot lead on the pedal, his inhibitions far too low for comfort. The place is lit brightly and there's a line of civilians waiting to speak to the receptionist. Norman stalks past them, determined. Annika smiles as she sees him. "Hey, Norman."

"Hi." They've had sex a few times. It's something he's kept from Norma. Now, he wants to throw it in her face. Traitor. "I need to speak to Alex."

Annika freezes, catching the heat and the promise in his tone. "Go ahead. He's in his office."

"Thank you, Annie."

* * *

Alex isn't surprised to see him. He just sits back in his chair when Norman enters, his hands folded in his lap, his dark eyes trained on the other man. "Norman. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Cut the crap. You know why I'm here." He clenches his jaw until there's actual pain shooting up and down his nerve endings. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I can't help who the lady chooses."

"Shut up!" The anger trembles along his bones, unstoppable and burning. "You've been like family to me. How could you do this?"

"I don't owe you anything. Least of all an explanation. Get out of here."

"You're a piece of shit, Alex, you know that?"

"Yeah, well, you're no better. Get out."

Norman stands up straighter, lets all that red hot emotion bubble to the surface. "She's going to come back to me. You know that. There's nothing you can do to change that. She's in love with me. She always has been. That makes you crazy, doesn't it? Ever since high school. She chose me then. She'll choose me again. And even if she doesn't, you're still second best. Ten years, Alex. Ten years she was with me. I'm all over her. Every time you look at her, every time you touch her, every time you think about her, I've already been there. Don't you get that? She's still mine and you can't get me off her." A smirk slides across his face. "Have a good one, Alex."

* * *

"He's gonna suck you back in, isn't he?"

She stops in the doorway, just outside the bedroom, one foot over the threshold. The question has her caught and she begs for clarification despite the fact that she already knows who he's referring to. "Who?"

Alex purses his lips and tilts his head, his signature disbelieving expression. "Norman."

"What about him?"

"He came to see me today. Told me that you're still in love with him."

Hesitation. The slightest, most insignificant moment. "He's crazy."

"Is he?"

"Of course."

He leans back against the headboard and crosses his arms over his chest. "You don't have to lie, Norma. It's okay if you are."

The reassuring words won't hit her tongue; they stay sticking in the back of her throat, heavy and wrong. Alex watches her for a long second before he speaks again. "The two of you were the only thing people in town talked about for a long time. Everywhere I went, I had to hear about how inseperable you were. And Sam? You were the only thing he talked about. How his son found the perfect woman. And how much Liz hated you. It was nauseating because I wanted you and you knew it and you still chose him and everywhere I looked, I got my face shoved in it. And here I am again." He rises from the bed and moves toward her, his face creased in questioning. "Is it true you two fucked in a supermarket when he was in high school?"

"Alex."

"Tell me."

"We had sex many times in many places. He's my husband."

"Was."

"Yes. Was."

"When was the last time you fucked him?" The room seems to shrink as he stands behind her so his body blocks her exit.

She doesn't turn around to look at him. "Why does it matter?"

"It matters. Tell me."

Agitation gathers in her chest, begging her to lie to him, to make him squirm with the thought of Norman having her. The truth comes tumbling out, instead. "Norman and I haven't had sex in almost a year."

"Is that why you divorced him?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"Because I betrayed him and I couldn't live with it. I should've tried harder. I should've...I should've done a lot of things. I don't deserve him anymore."

Alex's breath rides the line of her neck, warm and confident. "You don't love him."

"He doesn't love me."

"We both know that's bullshit."

"He will never forgive me. I don't want him to."

"Are you sure about that?"

"...Yes."

* * *

4 months later...

The girl doesn't know what she's gotten herself into. Norman might like that about her the best. Cause he hasn't taken his wedding ring off yet and he's watching that hand move along Emma's skin, the gold band glinting in dim light. Emma shifts a little closer. Norman can only focus on that little squeak of the bed springs and finds himself wishing Norma were here so he could make some stupid joke about breaking the bed.

"Are you okay, Norman?" Emma's voice is a whisper on his throat.

"Mm-hmm. I'm great." He allows himself a smile as he leans down to kiss her. "Better than, even. I'm gonna get a beer. You want something?"

"No." She gives him a grin when she lets him go and he can feel her eyes tracing him all the way out the bedroom door.

In another life, that attention would make him shiver. Now, he's halfway numb to it, and at least a little disappointed. There's a knock on the front door; Norman jumps. Who the hell could be here at 2 am? The answer to the question isn't one he was expecting. Norma's standing there, her eyes puffy from crying, her hands wringing in front of her, her clothes and hair in shambles. "Norma. What the hell happened to you?"

"I just..." She laughs. It's uneven and emotionless. "I just wanted to see you."

"Why?" The house creaks behind him, almost shaking with his anticipation. He wasn't ready for whatever reason she would have. He couldn't be.

"Because...because you're my man." She reaches for him. Norman complies against his better judgment, slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her in.

"I'm not, Norma. Not anymore. That's the definition of divorce, you know."

She hooks her fingers into the waistband on his boxers. "I've missed you."

"It's only been a few months."

"No. No, Norman." She moves until they're sharing breath. "I've missed you."

"Norma." It's meant to be stern. It comes out breathless and stained red with desire. "You can't do this to me. We're over."

"I know that. I know."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I want you." She presses herself into him and Norman balks, his whole body tight for fear of giving in.

"Norma, don't."

"Why?"

He looks at her, his blue eyes suddenly melancholic. "If you'd shown up an hour ago..." He shakes his head and laughs. "God, I would've been all over you. But..."

"But what?"

"Emma's here." A smile slides across his face.

Norma recoils in that way she always does, her eyes narrowed and her expression full of the offense she's taken. "Oh. I see."

"Yeah."

"Okay. Okay." She pecks him on the lips and slides her fingers along the edge of his boxers again. "Can I see you tomorrow?"

"Not likely."

"Norman."

"I'm trying to move on here, Norma! Asking this of me isn't fair and you know it."

She ducks her head. "I know, Norman. I'm sorry. It's just...you're so important to me. And, I know you've been thinking about me and I...I can't stop thinking about you."

"You can't do this, Norma. You've already made your choice." Inside, he's almost bursting with joy. If Alex were here, Norman would be basking in the 'I told you so.' "You chose him. Go be with him. You're not mine to claim anymore."

"Do you wish I was?"

The sigh that leaves him trembles through his bones. "Of course I do. That's not the point."

"Don't you love me, Norman?"

"You know I do." He breathes out and takes her hands off him, replacing them to her sides gently. "Norma, if you're having second thoughts..."

"I'm not!"

"Okay, you're not. Even so, I'm not avaiable to you, okay? I can't afford to be around you. I can't afford to think about you."

"Why not?"

"Because I"ll give in. I'll lose. I'll make love to you and then you'll choose him and I can't...I can't deal with that. Please just go. Leave me be."

"I don't want to."

He touches his lips to her forehead. "You have to, baby. Please."

"Meet me tomorrow. At the motel. If you don't show up, I"ll leave you alone. If you do, then we'll figure something out, okay? Just think about it, baby. That's all I ask."

He doesn't watch her leave, but the remnants of her burn in his heart and his soul, confusing him and tying him up in knots. His footsteps echo on the stairs, momentarily deafening him to his thoughts. Emma's studying him hard when he returns to the bedroom. "Who was that?"

"My ex-wife."

"That sounded a little heated. Is everything okay?"

"It is now. Don't worry about it, honey. I don't want you to." He slides in beside her and pulls her into his arms, brushing his lips on her cheek. "She's not important."

"I believe you, Norman."

"Good." His embrace tightens. "Good."


End file.
